Wednesday

Well, here's the start of a new series of posts giving you a sample of what to expect as an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher). Hopefully this information will help you decide if teaching here is for you, and answer any questions you may have.

Tuesday

They appear to be enacting an onsen scene, but without the hot water. Which reminds me: an onsen outside in the rain or snow is really, really nice. I recommend you try it if you can. The iconic Snow Monkeys (the Japanese Macaques who live next to and bathe in a natural hot spring) share the area with many outdoor onsen.

Check out our onsen blog for some more information about the experience.

Monday

This year, Google added an extension of their Google Voice VOIP calling feature to the Gmail interface. Simply by logging into your Gmail account and typing in a phone number, you can call friends and family anywhere in the world.

Saturday

Merry Christmas, and thank you for following our site. Especially for December posts, we've concentrated on adding quality information on topics frequently asked about by our audience. Please take some time to browse our recent posts about getting a driver's license and working in Japan, and enjoy the holiday season.

Wednesday

Well, last article I went into some depth as to why I loved the new Kindle and why you should definitely buy one (UK link). We talked about using it for studying Japanese and how great it was at that.

However, it was clearly designed for reading standard books, and even though it isn't directly for sale in Japan (although you can import it from Amazon) it does support Japanese script.

So here's everything you need to know about getting (free, and modern) Japanese books onto your Kindle for study, pleasure, or whatever you want. I've also included a section on reading manga with it, which is a revolutionary experience!

Monday

If you used to drive in your home country, you may be eligible to "convert" your license into a Japanese driver's license using a process called 外国免許切替 (gaikoku menkyo kirikae), often abbreviated to 外免切替. There are a lot of good guides about this online, which we highly recommend you check out.

But in addition to linking these resources, we've compiled our own bullet points and special tips regarding the 外免切替 process. To start off, here are some common questions and answers about the 外免切替 process:

Sunday

Here's a simple activity for first grade JHS. You could use it with elementary too, but only with an advanced class which can read simple verbs - or you could edit the sheet to use pictures instead of text.

Thursday

The Kindle is fantastic for studying Japanese, as well as reading books. I think it's great, and take it with me everywhere. And get ready to be blown away - you can read manga on it. Yes indeed.

This will revolutionise the way you read manga. No more ripped plastic bag full of smelly tankoban on the subway for you! No more long flights watching Nicolas Cage "act".

I found a lot of barely legible/outdated guides to converting manga for your Kindle, so to go with my upcoming "Using a Kindle for reading Japanese books and manga" blog, here's the best guide currently available for converting and adding that manga to your Kindle:

Wednesday

One day Fuji Xerox Japan and Seven & I Holdings got together and decided they would make the best service the world has ever seen: Upload documents to a website, then go to any 7-11 in Japan (in Japanese that means "anywhere") and have them printed out at your convenience. The service is called Net Print and I do not know why the companies have not made a bigger deal about this, because it is a miracle for every apartment-dwelling, printerless single adult in the nation (of which there are many).

If you've ever needed to print something out while on the road, or needed to meet a deadline when no printer was in sight, or took your USB thumbdrive to work to print out your resume so you could apply for another job, Net Print is for you.

Monday

One of the best places for foreign nationals to look for jobs in Japan are career forums. Career forums strip out a lot of the traditional Japanese hiring practices of attending compulsory seminars, filling out entry sheets, and attending up to eight rounds of interviews before a job offer finally arrives. They concentrate employers in one convenient location, so you can gather information and talk with recruiters at a dozen companies all in one afternoon.

Friday

For the most part, the Japanese still haven't discovered either central heating or double-glazed windows (another example of low-tech Japan). Not only that, but old Japanese houses are actually designed to be cold. Kerosene heaters and kotatsu are the obvious ways to heat up your home, but if your house is anything like ours, you'll need to do some extra work to keep that heat in.

Read on for hints on tape, bubble-wrap and various other solutions designed to stop you resorting to buying one of those monk-outfit/blanket/muu-muu things with arms.